You were a most beloved pet and one of the great loves of my life. In six years, across five homes, four cities, and countless tears and laughs, you saw me from the very worst days of my life straight through to the very best days. I am grateful for you, and for the time … Continue reading Max. 3/20/08 – 3/3/16. RIP.

This from early in chapter 42. Where Andres the guerrilla is trying desperately to get a message from Robert Jordan to Golz about calling off the attack. Mostly because of the language. But also as a technical matter, to note how he stitches global and individual perspective into same scene. Now they went fast, swooping … Continue reading More FWTBT

Sneaky little buggers that they are, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), those global overlords of chemical nomenclature and measurements, verified the discovery of the four missing elements on the periodic table, just a day before New Year’s Eve, when we were all too distracted to notice. (And by we all, I mean me). … Continue reading OMFG: THE PERIODIC TABLE IS FINALLY COMPLETE!!

I’m reading For Whom the Bell Tolls, finally, and finding it a bit slow and frustrating. Except, I just got to chapter ten, where Pilar tells Robert Jordan and the others about the day the revolution started in her town. The entire chapter is gorgeous and horrific, but I wanted to make note of this graph … Continue reading A quick note on Hemingway and reading vs. reporting….

We chose some passages from For Whom the Bell Tolls, to read at our wedding. We considered a few others (Kundera; Garcia-Marquez), but Hemingway’s the one we both love equally, so. Eric worried about the non-sequitor-ish-ness of it, but I really wanted something from this book specifically because it’s the one Hemingway dedicated to Martha Gellhorn, and … Continue reading Words to marry by…

1. Some of the best stories I’ve reported never made it to print. 2. Once — in the summer of 2008, I think — I went to Puerto Rico for a vacation, and ended up reporting a story on the Arecibo Radio Telescope and how it was struggling to remain open (and relevant) amid a … Continue reading The Earth’s Hearing Aid